The perception of parents, pupils and teachers on the effect of home environment on the academic performance of junior high school students in Mporhor Wassa east district

Abstract

This study specifically attempted to find out whether academic performance among J.H.S 3 students, teachers and parents could be attributed to some home environmental factors such as parental encouragement, parental education, parental occupation, family size and learning facilities at home. The researcher employed the use of questionnaire and focus group discussion to gather data for this work. Out of the four hundred (400) respondents that were sampled from the five strata, three hundred and fifty (350) sampled J. H. S. 3 students, teachers and parents in the Mpohor Wassa East District (MWED) answered the questionnaire and were also involved in the focus group discussion. The results of the study showed that majority (70%) of the parents in MWED are peasant farmers who use their school going children as the source of labor. This has negatively affected the time pupils spent in school and with their books. Although parents admitted that their involvements in their children’s academic activities need to be improved, they equally advised teachers to spend time to research into the subject matter so as to improve the content of their lessons. From the study, it was revealed that parents’ positive involvement such as arranging for extra tuition, finding more about what their wards do at school, etc. will go a long way to improve their academic performance. It would be appropriate for educationists and other stakeholders to adopt some of the measures suggested to improve the academic performance of J. H. S. 3 pupils in other areas of the country.